Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI:The High Court of Bombay at Goa has come down heavily on the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the manner in which it picked up Kenyan citizen Newton Muthuri Kimani, ruling that he was kept in illegal custody from the moment he was stopped at Delhi’s IGI Airport. The court has granted him bail, calling the agency’s actions a clear breach of constitutional safeguards.
Justice Valmiki Menezes found that Kimani’s interception at the airport on December 8, 2023—triggered by an ED-issued Look Out Circular—was effectively an arrest. Since the ED failed to produce him before a magistrate within 24 hours, the court said the detention violated Article 22(2) of the Constitution and the mandatory requirements laid down under the CrPC. As a result, the arrest itself was held invalid.
Kimani was being probed for allegedly allowing his bank accounts and UPI QR codes to be used to collect payments linked to a prostitution ring operated by two other accused, who allegedly lured women to Goa under the promise of jobs in the hospitality sector. According to the ED, more than ₹21.2 crore moved through the accounts of Kimani and another suspect in the form of thousands of micro-transactions, with around ₹3.4 crore purportedly sent to Kenya via illegal hawala routes.
Court records show that immigration officials detained Kimani at around 10.30 am as he attempted to fly to Nairobi. He remained confined in an airport holding area until ED officers arrived from Goa the next morning, after which he was flown to the state. The ED formally arrested him only at 6.30 pm on December 9 and produced him before a magistrate an hour later.
The court dismissed the ED’s claim that airport detention and formal arrest were two separate stages. Justice Menezes said that because immigration acted on the ED’s LOC, Kimani’s custody had in effect begun the moment he was stopped. The judge also noted that ED officials rushed to Delhi immediately, reinforcing that they were exercising control over his movement well before the “official” arrest time.
Relying on recent Supreme Court judgments that make bail mandatory in cases involving such procedural lapses, the High Court ordered Kimani’s release.
He has been directed to furnish a personal bond of ₹2 lakh, surrender his passport, register with the FRRO, appear before the ED once every month, declare the sources of his funds, and remain within Goa unless he gets prior permission from the trial court.
